


Real With Me

by Fallenstar92



Series: Gallavich: Life, Love, and Parenting [7]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Adopted Children, Bipolar Ian Gallagher, Domestic Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, EMT Ian Gallagher, Established Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Established Relationship, Ian Gallagher Loves Mickey Milkovich, M/M, Married Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Mickey Milkovich Loves Ian Gallagher, Mickey Milkovich Uses Actual Words, Parents Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Tattoo Artist Mickey Milkovich
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-30
Updated: 2020-11-18
Packaged: 2021-03-08 03:27:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,244
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26568784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fallenstar92/pseuds/Fallenstar92
Summary: Ian and Mickey have to make some big decisions when Mandy shows up in Chicago a year after they got married.
Relationships: Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich
Series: Gallavich: Life, Love, and Parenting [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1815346
Comments: 10
Kudos: 153





	1. Wake Up Call

The first day of Mickey and Ian's vacation-which was just an excuse for them to take a week off work and spend some time with their son and each other-started with Ian deciding to get up early to make his husband breakfast for their first anniversary. Or, that was the _plan,_ until the doorbell rang. Ian racked his brain, trying to figure out who would be at their house at six thirty in the morning; their rent had been paid two days earlier, his siblings avoided getting up early like the plague, Iggy was back in jail, Kev and Vee would still be heading to the bar to open it, and-if Ian was completely honest-both Mickey and Ian were the least social humans on the planet, choosing to spend their time almost exclusively with one another and their family over having friends. So, who the hell was at their door? "Ruges, sit." Ian said, with his hand on the doorknob, knowing Ruger got excited when he saw people and the dog could do some damage when he jumps.

"And here I thought Ruger jumping on me was gonna be the best part of my visit... Didn't expect you to open the door in your damn underwear." Mandy said, causing Ian to look away from the dog, shocked to find his sister-in-law standing in front of him. "Can I come in before the old lady across the street has a heart attack?"

"Yeah! Yeah, of course! Come on in!" Ian exclaimed, stepping out of the way to allow Mandy to enter the house, trying to avoid Misses Peterson as she gawked at him. "Sorry, didn't think anyone was gonna be here this early." Ian apologized, quickly grabbing a pair of sweatpants out of the dryer to cover his black boxer briefs.

"Guess not. You answer the door without pants, very often? 'Cause if you do, I gotta start vistin' more often." Mandy joked as she took a seat on one of the bar stools in the kitchen.

"It's six o'clock and I just woke up; be glad I even put on underwear." Ian replied as he went back to preparing breakfast.

"Why should I be glad about that?" Mandy questioned with a laugh.

"Considerin' I'm married to your brother?" Ian asked, enjoying the back-and-forth banter they still had, even after all of these years. "Gonna tell me why you're here?" Ian asked, pouring two cups of coffee.

"Can't have that." Mandy said, offering Ian a much softer, gentler smile than he'd ever seen on the Milkovich girl.

"Holy shit." Ian said, realizing what that meant; realizing he would soon be an Uncle, again.

"That's why I'm here." Mandy said with a nod.

"Coulda called us to tell us you're pregnant, Mands; you didn't need to drive all the way to Chicago for that." Ian replied, wondering why she would make a trip to make the announcement.

"The father's a redhead. Not as hot as you are, but he's alright." Mandy said, looking down at Ruger, laying contently at her feet.

"Mandy..." Ian wished Mickey would wake up, because the way this was heading? It wasn't just a conversation for Ian and Mandy.

"I'm not maternal. But... Look, you and Mick are great Dads; If anyone could ever do it, it's you two." Mandy said, nervously. "Plus, I'd get to be the cool aunt."

"I..." What the fuck was Ian supposed to say? He couldn't make a decision like this without Mickey.

"Ya know, this ain't what I expected to wake up to." Mickey said, finally making his presence known.

"Hey, I was tryin' to give you two a good anniversary gift!" Mandy joked, standing up to hug her brother. "I know you two need to talk before you decide anything."

"Yeah." Mickey said, looking over his sister's head at his husband, silently conveying what Ian was thinking; could they really do this? Liam was an easy kid, but a baby was a completely different story. Could they _really_ raise a baby?

More importantly, I saw one particular emotion that made his heart stop for just a second; hope. Mickey wanted this. So, why does Ian think it's such a bad idea?


	2. One Thing Right

Mandy apparently had a hotel room, so she left soon after telling them she wanted them to adopt her baby to give Mickey and Ian a chance to talk. "A baby's gonna be harder than Liam; he was already seven when we adopted him." Ian said, watching his husband as he sipped his coffee.

"No shit." Mickey chuckled, clearly amused. "But, how many chances like this are we gonna get? Between you bein' Bipolar and the way I look? Most people ain't gonna give us a fuckin' chance with a baby." Mickey said, calmly, clearly having thought about this more than Ian would have ever imagined. "And, Mandy said her baby Daddy's a redhead."

"The Hell are you so obsessed with red hair for?" Ian asked, wondering why that was so important to Mickey.

"Married a fuckin' alien lookin' ginger, didn't I?" Mickey asked with a smirk. "Mandy looks like me; it's gonna be the closest we can get to havin' a baby the looks like it's ours."

"You really wanna do this?" Ian asked, already pretty certain of the answer.

"Fuck yeah, I do." Mickey said, refilling both of their mugs.

"Then we'll do it; we'll adopt the baby." Ian said, barely getting the sentence out before he had his arms full of a very happy brunette. "We gotta tell Liam."

"I didn't think about that." Mickey admitted. "Think we can just let him figure it out when we come home with a baby?"

"Pretty sure that's bad parenting." Ian joked, leaning down to kiss his husband. "We're gonna have two kids, soon."

"Uhm... You two can't make a baby, Dad." Liam said, causing both men to jump. How the Hell was that kid so fucking quiet?

"We need to talk, bubs." Ian said, sitting at the kitchen table with Mickey beside him, ready to explain the situation to Liam.

Mandy didn't stay in Chicago long after she talked to Mickey and Ian, again-happy to hear how excited both men and their son were to have another member joining their family-but she promised to send them updates on her pregnancy and ultrasound pictures after each doctor's appointment. "Lip's gonna bring some of Freddie's old clothes and shit over after he gets off work." Debbie said as she helped Ian set up Franny's old crib in the third bedroom of his family's house. "How far along is Mandy?"

"Fourteen weeks." Ian answered, looking around at the recently painted room, admiring the soft, pastel yellow walls Debbie had insisted was the best option-"you can't go with blue! That enforces antiquated gender rolls, dumbasses!"-admitting that the color wasn't as bad as either man expected it to be. "I like the yellow."

"Better than that green Mick wanted or that blue you liked." Debbie said, proudly.

"I like blue." Ian defended. They didn't even know the baby's sex or gender, yet, so he wasn't sure Debbie's reasoning was the best, but he wasn't going to argue with his sister.

"Yeah, yeah, you and Mickey are fuckin' adorable and picked each other's eye color. Can we finish this shit? I got a date, tonight." Debbie said, earning an eye roll from her brother. Ian didn't like that Debbie was dating a woman because she would buy Debbie shit, and he _really_ didn't like that she was also fucking the woman's underage daughter, but what was he supposed to do about it other than wait for it to blow up in her face?

"You're gonna end up gettin' yourself into deep shit if you don't knock this shit out." He'd said it hundreds of times, but Debbie never was one to listen to other people.

"Worry about your life and I'll worry about mine." Debbie replied, angrily. Sure, she was helping him set this up, but-unlike his brother who had offered any and all of the toys, clothes, and anything else Freddie was now too old for to his brother and his husband for their baby-Debbie had actually charged them for furniture that had been passed down from Gallagher child to Gallagher child, up until Freddie. While it seemed ridiculous, it was still cheaper than going out and purchasing new furniture, so the men had done it.

"Just worried about my sister. Fuckin' sue me." Ian muttered under his breath as he finally finished the crib and moved to place the changing table against the wall.

"Don't. I gotta go get ready for my date." Debbie said, rushing out of the house without giving Ian a chance to say goodbye.

"We're havin' a girl!" Ian exclaimed as he walked into the old Gallagher house with his husband and son the day Mandy had her twenty week check up.

"Hell yeah! We need more girls around here!" Vee happily cheered, moving to hug both men. "You ready to have a baby sister, little man?"

"Yeah, I wanted a sister, anyway." Liam said, allowing Vee to hug him.

"What, you didn't want a little brother to hang out with?" Kev asked, clapping both men on the back.

"It's all guys in our house." Liam replied with a tiny shrug.

"I gotta take this. Congrats, man." Lip said as his phone rang, rushing to the kitchen as Carl and Franny gave Ian and Mickey each a hug, though Franny wasn't exactly sure why everyone was so excited.

"I'll look through Gemma and Amy's old clothes for you two." Vee offered, knowing that having hand-me-downs and used furniture was going to make this whole thing more affordable for the young couple.

"Thanks, Vee." Mickey said, finally tearing his eyes away from the ultrasound picture on his phone. He was nervous about having a daughter-he honestly hadn't thought about the fact that they may end up with a baby girl-but he was already in love with the little, barely human looking fetus.

"Guys... Debbie's in jail; her girlfriend found out she was fuckin' her daughter and turned Debbie in for Statutory." Lip said, changing the mood in the room, in an instant.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! Let me know what you thought and leave me some comments to read! Much love!


	3. You Can't Fix Everyone

"Any updates?" Ian asked Lip the moment he walked into the Gallagher house, his husband and son both close behind him, until Liam took off up the stairs to see his cousin. Debbie had been locked up for three months and-so far-the only person she'd agreed put on her visitors list was Lip.

"We got no hope; she's fuckin' stupid and let the kid take pictures of them, together." Lip groaned, dropping onto the couch after he handed Freddie his sippy cup. "DCFS is gonna be a the door, sooner or later, for Franny."

"What the fuck are we supposed to do? Me and Ian already have one kid and Mandy's gonna pop the second one out, any day, now, you got a fuckin' baby, and Carl's... Carl; who the Hell is supposed to take her?" Mickey questioned, watching the stairs to ensure Franny didn't walk in on this conversation.

"We've been sayin' I was the one carin' for her, but Debbie won't sign custody papers." Lip said, looking as angry at their sister as Ian felt. How the Hell could Debbie take her own bad life choices out on her daughter like this?

"Can't you go around her? I mean, she's lookin' at fifteen fuckin' years." Mickey pointed out when Ian couldn't seem to find his voice.

"I'm tryin', but I'm not sure DCFS is gonna care." Lip sighed. "Like you said, you two already have one kid and you're gonna have a newborn in the house, any day, now. I can take Franny, though; Freddie's gonna be two, soon, and Franny's four. I can handle that."

"Talk to Debbie about puttin' me on her visitor's list; I'll get her dumbass to sign." Ian said before running up the stairs to check in on his niece.

"You think he can really do it?" Lip asked his brother-in-law once Ian was out of hearing range.

"He got me to stick around when I knew my homophobic prick of a father would fuckin' kill me if he knew I was gay. After that, you _really_ think gettin' Debbie to sign over custody is even gonna make Ian break a fuckin' sweat?" The question was rhetorical, but Mickey wasn't going to let Lip know he had his own doubts about this; that he knew Debbie had always thrived on attention and wouldn't give up a good portion of where it came from.

"I'm not giving my daughter away." Debbie said, stubbornly. It took Lip a week, but he convinced Debbie to add Ian to her visitor's list. Sadly, though, she seemed to know exactly why Ian was here.

"You don't have a choice; they have _pictures,_ Deb's! You think they're not gonna show 'em in court?! So, you either sign over custody to Lip-someone Franny knows and loves-or you let the state take her, but you keepin' her isn't an option." Ian said, plainly, knowing subtlety had never worked with his sister.

"I won't get convicted; I have a daughter at home!" Debbie argued, which just served to make Ian roll his eyes.

"Which is _why_ you'll be convicted; it's a statutory rape case, the victim was a young girl, and you have a daughter at home... Any judge is gonna look at that and lock your ass up. And if there's a fuckin' Jury trial? You'll never be allowed to _see_ Franny, again, let alone be part of her life." Ian knew he was being harsh, and he would probably feel guilty about it, later, but Franny didn't deserve to suffer because her mother was-admittedly-a terrible person.

"Why are you the one trying to convince me? Wouldn't Mickey be better at that?" Debbie asked, a slight smile appearing on her lips.

"Because I'm more like a strongly worded letter and Mickey's more like someone hittin' you with a hammer." Ian joked, knowing he was getting through to Debbie, now.

"If anyone could sneak a hammer through a metal detector, I'd put my money on Mickey Gallagher." Debbie laughed, looking down at the custody papers. "Tell Lip to bring me pictures of her; I wanna see her grow up, even though I'm gonna spend a few years, here." Debbie said as she shakily signed the papers.

"I will. You're doin' the best thing for her, Debs; she's still gonna be with her family." Ian's words seemed to comfort Debbie as she passed the papers back over to him, trying to smile despite the tears in her eyes. "I'll bring you pictures of the baby once she gets here." Ian promised before standing up and walking away from his little sister.

Life was back to normal for the Gallagher family by October twenty-nineth, aside from Mandy staying at Mickey and Ian's house until she delivered the baby; Franny was doing well with Lip, Liam was-as always-thriving in school, Ian was all set to take a few weeks off work to be home with their daughter, and Mickey was doing better than ever at work. Everything was perfect, until about fifteen minutes into Mickey's last appointment of the day. "Mick! Hey, man, Liam just called." Luke called out, barely stepping into Mickey's station, but the ghostly white color Luke's skin had taken on, Mickey knew what was going on; Mandy was in labor. His daughter was coming, today.

"Look, Amy, I'll give you back your money for today, but I gotta leave; Mandy's in labor." Amy had been coming to Mickey since he was an apprentice, so she had met his sister, his husband, his son, and even gotten Mickey to open up about how his family was doing, leading to her knowing about Mandy carrying a baby for Mickey and Ian.

"Don't worry about it; it's my present to Baby Girl Gallagher. Now go! Hurry, you don't wanna miss the big moment!" Amy said with a slight laugh as Mickey stood up and rushed away, knowing Luke would clean up his station. He didn't care about that, though; his daughter was on her way into the world!

Mickey ended up making it to the hospital before Mandy even went down to the delivery room, so he managed to get her laughing by running into the room like a crazy person. Seven hours later-and several comments about looking like he'd lost his mind from his _lovely_ sister-Mickey couldn't care less as he held his newborn daughter while Ian went to fetch Liam from the waiting room where he'd been camped out with Lip, Carl, Freddie, Franny, Kev, and Vee, all night. "You two got a name for her, yet?" Mandy asked through a yawn.

"Yeah, but I'm gonna wait for Ian's ass to get back here so we can just tell you and Liam, together." Mickey said, eyes locked on the tiny, brunette baby sleeping comfortably in his arms.

"I'm back. Sorry, you know how my family is." Ian apologized, ushering Liam into the room. "Ever gonna let me hold her?"

"For a minute, then I want her back." Mickey joked.

"Of course, my dear." Ian replied, pecking Mickey's cheek before he sat down to let Liam see the baby.

"What's her name?" Liam asked, amazed by the tiny, fragile person in his father's arms.

"Remember when you found out we were gonna have a girl? You gave us a name?" Mickey prompted Liam, watching their eldest child trace the shape of his younger sister's hand.

"Dylan?" Liam replied as a question, though he seemed pleased with the idea that he had helped name his baby sister.

"Yeah, bubs. This is Dylan Amanda Gallagher." Ian said, glancing at Mickey as the older man moved to hug his sister when tears formed in her eyes.

"You didn't have to fuckin' name the baby after me!" Mandy exclaimed when Mickey pulled himself away from her.

"I don't have to fuckin' do shit if I don't want to." Mickey said, trying to maintain his "badass" reputation despite the fact that he was clearly itching to get back to Dylan. "We wanted to; not like we'd have her if your ass didn't get fuckin' pregnant."

"At least he's a decent guy and understood that I didn't want a baby." Mandy said, trying to change the subject away from the fact that Mickey and Ian named their child after her. "When I told him what I was gonna do he said he just wanted to see pictures when you two send 'em to me... If you two are okay with it."

"Of course." Ian said, watching Liam and Dylan with literal fucking heart eyes.

"Ever gonna tell us his name?" Mickey asked, sitting in the chair beside his sister's bed, seeing that he wouldn't be able to steal the baby back, any time soon.

"Charlie." Mandy replied, causing Ian started laughing. "What?"

"We were gonna name her Charlie. Then we saw her; just didn't fit." Mickey answered, giving up all pretence of being tough when he finally moved over to his family, staring down at Dylan just like Liam and Ian.

"Soft mother fuckers." Mandy mumbled before she allowed herself to fall asleep. She was glad she made the choice to give Dylan to Ian and Mickey, because they would love her in a way she knew she couldn't.


End file.
